October Giveaway: A Dozen Vector Gears

[Gare]

Oh, far from crazy, Stygg—I think that's an inspired use of the shapes, especially considering that some of the shapes are based on watch parts I accidentally parted from a wristwatch.

What comes 'round, goes 'round...and 'round, and...

My Best,

Gare

[wizard509]

I love it Stygg. Now if you could make all the gears rotate and the clock work it would make a tremendous app.

[Gare]

@Larry and Stygg—

I'm just finishing the video for the month on how to design gears and don't really cover animation BUT...

If you give each gear about .15 seconds in a rotated position, and I think you can go from start to end position in 3 to 4 frames maximum, you can indeed animate the gears.

I'll show you how if I'm not clear enough here in a day or two.

This is jerky because I don't have the time to pace the frames properly, but the file is attached to learn from, below.





-g

[stygg2003]

Cheers Gary and Larry for the comments, much appreciated. Looking forward to the video on designing gears Gary.

Stygg

[stygg2003]

I posted a finished image of the clock in the Xara Art Gallery and then thought the clock finger shadows were all wrong. The light is coming from 10 to 12 and darkening at 6 to 3 so I got a torch and a stick and observed the shadow angles by placing the torch as 10 to 12. The results I got were far different than the original image. I've posted the new image so any comments would be appreciated. It's not rocket science but I think it was well worth the little experiment.

Stygg

[Gare]

The second hand, which is pointing at 11, is almost exactly where the torch illuminating the scene is casting. Therefore, I do not believe you'd see a shadow at all on this hand because the shadow would be casting at nearly the same angle as the hand, thus hidden by the hand.

But ignoring the previous paragraph here, what you've done is a magnificent piece of illustration, Stygg. Here's a tiling piece of medium dark wood for your background should you choose so!



My Best,

Gary

[stygg2003]

Thanks for the feedback Gary and I will remove the shadow as you rightly pointed out to me, would not be showing. I remembered you saying about doing little tests like with the torch and marking of shadow lengths of a tree or your own stick, well worth the effort before anyone decides to add shadows without a thought! Thanks for the tile, it will make an excellent background for the clock.

My Best
Stygg

[Gare]

Hey, Stygg—

I'm happy that you're not upset by my constant criticism because after all 1.) you invite it and 2.) It's positive, supportive feedback. You have a gallery piece in this and I want to help with my wisdom I've gathered over far too many years.

By the way, that wood texture is a product of a strange texture maker called DarkTree, and their website looks pretty desolate, but like many texture making programs (Filter Forge, Texture Editor, Texture Maker, Genetica), they all produce slightly different textures, occasionally using different procedures, so it's welcome to have something that isn't easily copied out in cyberspace, because not a lot of people knew about DarkTree...until now!

My Best,

Gary

[stygg2003]

Not in anyway upset Gary, I posted to get comment and be corrected where needed and I certainly don't consider it constant criticism. I sometimes wonder how you have the patience to keep correcting all the mistakes people make with their images, especially me but the Xone is the best forum on the web for learning from the very best.

Stygg

[Gare]

Stygg, I'll send an email with a link to Post #19 to the CEO of Xara, okay?

Might not get me any more than a pat on the back, but you can dream, eh?

I don't even like to use the word "correct" in advice, criticism, discussion, because this is Art, Art has a component of leniency and tolerance that is a direct reflection of the creator, and that's why I have a very hard time applying the somewhat empirical "right and wrong" to an evaluation of Art.

Let me make a distinction here, though. I see the direction in which you are taking your piece, and I realise that you want it to be photorealistically accurate, so yeah, now "right" and "wrong" do come into play. Not in your art, but in the rules you yourself need to follow to keep true to your vision.

I hope that makes sense. If not, the skinny is it's futile to be judgmental over a personal piece, precisely because it is personal.

My Best,

Gary